Best Trade Guesses

    Here are my best guesses as to which contending teams are going to get, or should try to get which players:

• Boston Red Sox: Jermaine Dye; Jon Rauch. For some unfathomable reason, Washington Nationals GM is enamored with Willy Mo Pena. Rauch has pitched very well the past two seasons for the Nationals and is far more available for less than Chad Cordero. The White Sox will just want to dump Dye for as much as they can get for him.
• New York Yankees: Octavio Dotel; Damaso Marte. The Yankees should have exercised the option on Dotel last season even though he pitched poorly for them; Marte has some experience in the post-season and is a veteran lefty who would be a major upgrade over Mike Myers. Kyle Farnsworth will be off the team by tomorrow, one way or the other.
• Detroit Tigers: Kyle Farnsworth; Vinnie Chulk. For some unfathomable reason, the Tigers have interest in Farnsworth; that Yankees might want to pay Farnsworth’s entire salary to pitch for the Tigers in the event that the teams face each other in the playoffs—-at least then they’ll be paying Farnsworth to hurt their team and he’ll be wearing the opponent’s uniform. Chulk has pitched well for the Giants this season.
• Cleveland Indians: Eric Gagne; Shawn Chacon. Gagne has pitched well and the Indians cannot fully trust Joe Borowski despite his racking up all those saves; Chacon has experience as a starter and as a closer.
• Los Angeles Angels: Matt Morris; Sammy Sosa. They need a veteran starting pitcher and Morris is very available; Sosa might be worth a shot and they can probably get him cheaply with a potential World Series inspiring his bat.
• Seattle Mariners: Jim Thome; Mike Piazza; Javier Vazquez. The Mariners need pitching and a bat. It wouldn’t hurt to ask about the highly-paid, 36-year-old Thome to see if Kenny Williams will bite; Vazquez has pitched well; Piazza is very available.
• New York Mets: Mark Grudzielanek; Chad Bradford; Chad Cordero; Bobby Jenks. Grudzielanek can probably be had cheaply; Bradford was with the Mets last year and has pitched well this season; GM Omar Minaya loves Chad Cordero from his days with the Expos/Nationals and it all depends on how demanding Nats GM Jim Bowden is for his closer; I wouldn’t be surprised to see the two aggressive and outside-the-box thinking GMs Minaya and Williams seriously discuss the flamethrowing Jenks.
• Philadelphia Phillies: Byun-Hyung Kim. They need starting pitching and bullpen help; they don’t have much to trade. They might be better off waiting for their injured players to return and seeing if some desperate for offense team that is in love with a high OBP will be willing to take Pat Burrell off their hands.
• Atlanta Braves: Mark Teixeira; Woody Williams. I think they’ll end up getting Teixeira, but the help they really need is in the pitching staff. Williams is a veteran who might return to form with a change of scenery from the losing situation in Houston.
• Milwaukee Brewers: Livan Hernandez. They have the bats to win; they need a veteran starter and Hernandez is supposedly available. He’s a big game pitcher and the Brewers and Diamondbacks have a good trading relationship.
• Chicago Cubs: Akinori Otsuka. The Cubs need help in the bullpen and Otsuka has pitched very well over the past two seasons. It’s probably too late to upgrade at catcher; why they wanted Jason Kendall and his pitcher-like bat is beyond me—-he’s not that good defensively to carry his unproductive bat.
• St. Louis Cardinals: Dontrelle Willis. Starting pitching. Any starting pitching would be an upgrade from what they have now and Walt Jocketty is aggressive in surprising ways. Young cheap players with upside (the Marlins are great at getting other teams top prospects) might make Willis a Cardinal. Don’t look now, but they’re loitering around the NL Central race. A hot streak gets them right back in realistic contention and Mark Mulder might be back soon.
• Los Angeles Dodgers: Kyle Lohse; Adam Dunn. GM Ned Colletti is aggressive and wants to win now. Lohse has great stuff and it’s hard to figure why he has such a terrible record. Dunn is a pure slugger who can play the outfield or first base. The Dodgers need starting pitching and a bat.
• Arizona Diamondbacks: A.J. Pierzynski; Steve Trachsel. They seem reluctant to deal their prospects, understandably. They need an upgrade at catcher and Pierzynski, even with all of his baggage, might shake things up. Trachsel has pitched surprisingly well this season and for some reason the Diamondbacks are willing to discuss Livan Hernandez. They need starting pitching that can get them to the sixth inning—-and that’s Trachsel. Presumably both would come cheaply.
• San Diego Padres: Eric Chavez. Chavez is making a lot of money and his numbers have dwindled to the point that he might be available for top prospect, but so-far unproductive Kevin Kouzmanoff. Billy Beane and Sandy Alderson have a solid relationship and Kouzmanoff is a young, cheap talent for the Athletics as they retool. The Padres desperately need a bat.
• Colorado Rockies: Scott Olsen; Justin Miller. The Rockies are loitering around the NL West race. They need starting pitching and bullpen help and a good trading relationship with the Marlins. Olsen and his personal and professional problems notwithstanding, has great stuff and is worth a shot if he behaves himself. Miller has pitched well out of the bullpen for the Marlins.